The priests, who would be appointed on a part-time basis, would now enter the temples, bathe the idols, adorn them with flowers and customary ornaments, and perform the daily pujas. One candidate each belonging to the Thandar and Vettuva and four Pulaya community members figure on the list released on Friday. The Travancore Devaswom Board, which is the employer, will now have to issue appointment letters to the selected priests to temples based on the vacancies reported from there. Any certificate in ‘Tantra Vidya’ was not insisted as an essential qualification though there were a few who had passed such courses, said M. Rajagopalan Nair, chairman of the recruitment board. There was resistance against the appointment of priests belonging to Ezhava community when that was attempted recently.

Source: The Hindu October 06, 2017 13:18 UTC